Shawn and Derek work hard to raise money for
underprivileged youth and to provide them with things like football
pads

Jim admits how many things have been taken away from
kids these days, and we wonder why we have some of the issues we
have today

Derek says because there is "no funding anymore”

Derek and Shawn like to teach lessons, put on events,
NOT just give out money (teaching lessons)

Jim has an epic career in journalism

We talk about "clickbait" articles

Jim explains clickbait worked during the Tim Tebow
time and the Johnny Manziel time as people continue to click on the
articles that keep gaining traction

Jim on football venues “Qualcomm was a dump” “Oakland
Raiders had a dump”

Jim was taking a tour in Qualcomm before writing a
piece on it and was just amazed at how behind the infrastructure
was and how poorly it was constructed, was just a “dump”

The piece on Qualcomm was a column, so Jim gave his
opinion and wrote it easily because of how familiar he was with the
"stadium"

Jim wrote the book on Junior Seau and it wasn’t as
tough because he knew Junior well

Jim met Junior Seau in '95

Jim credits his success to Rodney Harris and Junior
Seau,and learning
what its really like to be in the locker room and write about
it

Jim notes the importance of building
relationships

“listen” & “acknowledge you don’t know
everything”

Jim used to cover the Gulls back in the day - says
how he had most fun doing that vs any other sport

It was fun for Jim because “it wasn’t a thing where
every little detail was dissected” “you could actually have a good
conversation with others and not have to worry”

As a beat reporter for the Chargers, he wrote on a
daily basis

Reporting for Gulls wasn’t daily for Jim

Reporting daily was interesting for Jim because he
didn’t feel like he had a mentor to get help from everyday so in
his first couple of years he was just operating on fear, stressing
over every little thing, (1996) pre social media, jim would have a
lot of anxiety on the job

“in sports journalism you are never off the clock -
anything can break, even after you filed”

Jim can’t imagine being a beat writer today in 2017 -
notes how the pay is still the same but with 2x more
responsibilities

Jim notes how it used to just be 2 main stories a
day, now its that, updated blogs, digital components, sometimes
ESPN, sometimes radio spots

Jim covered the Chargers for 8 years, and he said
“I’m not getting off this beat until they [Chargers] have a winning
season, always was a non-winning season” because Jim wanted to
prove the losing records weren't because of him (Jim)”

Finally in 2004, the Chargers had a winning season
and went to playoffs

A bonus in journalism "Christmas bonus’ could be an
extra 5k or 10k depending on who it is

Jim explains in the sports journalism profession in
the 2006 era, Sports Illustrated was the place to be!

Jim says "when you get to a certain age, quality of
life is more important than the company name or paycheck"

Jim is traveling more now, than at any point in his
career and he deeply values staying close to family, dog and bird
in SD

Jim says he feels like he has a guardian angel always
looking over him

Jim ended up getting let go by SI, but Jim had some
other offers and companies interested in him so was able to get
another job soon after being laid off

Jim gives the following advice:

do the best work

always have a plan b (or try to have a plan b)

When they told Jim about Twitter at SI for the first
time, Jim asked, "Whats twitter?!"

On Twitter, Jim said "I’m not interested in this,"
then he realized he had to adjust unless he wanted become a
dinosaur

Derek has 8 documented concussions but probably 20
undocumented

football players are taught: "Be tough"

Concussions are referred to this slang “you got your
bell rung, you got a dinger”

The big question in the NFL, Whats more important?
this game or the guys playing it?

People are starting to take concussions in the NFL a
lot more seriously

"Junior didn’t invite you to Breakfast Club, you
would just show up if you were serious about football and
training"

Junior was so giving but would never reached out to
anyone for help when SO many people would have dropped everything
to help him

CTE - Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy (CTE) is a
progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with
a history of repetitive brain trauma (often athletes), including
symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic sub concussive hits
to the head that do not cause symptoms.

Shawn speaks about removing alcohol from his life and
how its impacted him in a very positive way

Derek remembers his time partying hard at K-state,
now a days there are “cocktails” with opiates/pills to take away
the pain from football and hitting

The K State trainer told Derek he was one of the
toughest guys he has ever worked with

Derek explains about 5 different pills that make you
feel great before the game, multiple pain blocker shots

Derek doesn’t even like taking tylenol these days
because it reminds him of his football days

"You have to communicate when you are having
problems"

Eddie George says “When you come to the NFL its a
birth, start of a new life, and when you are let go, it is a death,
that life is over, but players don’t know how to grieve, and the
players won’t ask for help because they are not used to asking”

Eddie had these problems and finally went to
counseling for help and then found passion in other places, found
out that he was only playing football because of his father

Junior Seau taught Derek about the grieving after
being done with NFL “its extremely hard because that’s WHO YOU ARE
what you are known for” how do you move on after NFL?

About the Podcast

This podcast is dedicated to revealing the truths in the business and digital marketing of BBQ, the sexy Instagram photos come later. Shawn Walchef of Cali Comfort BBQ and Derek Marso of Valley Farm Market take you Behind the Smoke each episode to share BBQ War Stories, raw and untrimmed. From restaurant lawsuits, to failed menu development execution, to how community based events can help scale your food business, Derek and Shawn bring you into the messy world of entrepreneurship. You won’t hear anything like this in your BBQ Business 101 class.